Christopher Nolan brings the curtain down on his Batman trilogy with the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week.

Speaking to Digital Spy, the filmmaker discussed his reasons for wanting to make a third instalment, seeing his storyline resonate with the Occupy movement in New York, and his approach to reinventing Catwoman.

On his reasons for casting Anne Hathaway as the cat burglar, he said: "I was looking for an actress who could build Selina Kyle as a total characterisation, not as ego, alter ego - librarian by day, sexy cat burglar by night.

"Selina Kyle is a very coherent characterisation, and Anne Hathaway has that massive skill as a performer.

"She also has the ability to fill a theatre with her performance, sing and dance and that kind of expressive side to a performance - she has both things.

"If you're going to, in a psychologically credible way, achieve an iconic presentation of a character, very much in the same way as Christian Bale has as Batman, you need both of those things."